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will you go with standard suspension or air suspension

will you go with standard suspension or air suspension

Submitted by skystream3.7 on Thu, 2012-11-22 08:34

I would like take a poll

air suspension Or standard suspension

Mark E |
27 novembre 2012

Ive been mulling this over for a while, I like the idea of the air suspension but am concerned with reliability and cost of repair, however since I want the performance version it seems like a no brainer.

Air for me.

toto_48313 |
2 dicembre 2012

air

skystream3.7 |
2 dicembre 2012

Air (44)

standard (4)

undecided (3)

Robert22 |
2 dicembre 2012

Air, despite the fact you're going to lose one end of the car at some point within the first four years if this is indeed the same system that MB uses. It's not cheap to fix but the smooth ride is one of the few things people comment on when riding in my MB. It does a great job insulating the occupants from road vibration. Suck it up, your derrière deserves it.

jchangyy |
2 dicembre 2012

Is air suspension covered by the warranty? if so, then nothing to worry about as long as you buy extended coverage.

markapeterman |
2 dicembre 2012

I am getting air and feel even better about it now with the extended warranty.

ir |
2 dicembre 2012

Air, mainly for the automatic leveling & high-speed height adjustment. However, I am concerned about the (possible?) misconception that it can save you from bottoming out. When it has happens to me (in my normal car), it is usually when pulling into an unfamiliar driveway. By the time you realize it, it's too late to even stop, let alone take your hands from the steering wheel, sift through the UI and hit the right setting.

Talking to the local TM showroom rep, the air suspension doesn't seem to react fast enough to save you in those situations.

Anybody have any more insight into response time and how it knows how to adjust iteself? Is it based on radar / sonar / laser ground proximit sensors? Sudden pressure changes in the bellows? Accelerometer?

If the self-levelling works to keep your car flat relative to gravity, then it would really act strange when parked on a steep hill.

Anybody had a test drive where they hit a pothole / speedbump at speed to see how it performs?

skystream3.7 |
2 dicembre 2012

Air (48)

standard (4)

undecided (3)

Volker.Berlin |
3 dicembre 2012

+1 jchangyy

Given the extended warranty/service plan option, I'm now much more likely to go with air. For the record, in the current count I'm included as "undecided".

Kal-el |
3 dicembre 2012

Air (49)

standard (4)

undecided (3)

Brian H |
3 dicembre 2012

Kal-el;
You forgot to reduce undecided by one.

Air (49)

standard (4)

undecided (2)

djp |
3 dicembre 2012

Air a "must have"

TeslaModelSOwner |
3 dicembre 2012

Undecided...will only get air if it puts me ahead of the line to get the car earlier than if i do not. I'm sequence # 12,848

PeterSeattle |
3 dicembre 2012

First off, I own a small used car dealership in Seattle and have convinced my 73 year old mom to buy a Model S. I had advised her to skip the air suspension, but after reading this post she's feeling peer pressure to go for the air as well.

My thoughts on why to skip the air suspension are based mostly on my experience with Range Rovers, of which I currently have 5 with the air suspension and 1 that has been converted from air to coil springs. Years 1995 - 2003

1. Assuming the Tesla suspension uses similar components I would expect the air system to be reasonably trouble free for 8-10 years or 100k miles.
2. Once you get to that age you should expect wear from the air springs, the ride height sensors, the air compressor, the valve body the controls air distribution and possible the computer which controls it. Sooner or later the rubber in the springs is going to break down and develop leaks which causes the air compressor to work harder and eventually fail. All of these are items that I have replaced on my current fleet of Rovers.
3. I'm assuming the Tesla, like every other coil spring car out there, was designed to clear your average driveway, speed bump or curb.
4. I also have plenty of experience with cars that have low front chins, my mom's old CLK320 convertible for example, which was very easy to scuff on a curb when parking. Chances are that at some point you'll forget to dig into the menu and raise the car when parking. It just not convenient to manually raise your car every time you park.
5. For those of you who have unusually steep driveways, I can see the advantage to air, though I think it'll be pain to hit a button every time you drive into your driveway.
6. So far as ride quality, the 2001 Rover that we have that was converted to coil springs in many ways rides better than an air spring car.
7. Bottom line.... an extra $1500 for a more complex suspension than she needs that's likely to cause headaches down the road. Of course if you keep the car 3-6 years, probably not an issue. And as a used car dealer I can only encourage you to trade cars frequently. :)

So P9455 is still on the fence, though I think she'll be in the next batch of Time to Configure e-mails.

trydesky |
3 dicembre 2012

I am getting air almost solely to get my car sooner. When I placed my order (aug 14) there was no other choice, other than to wait some unknown period of time to get standard. Tesla's money grab way of delivering the cars worked on me.

skystream3.7 |
3 dicembre 2012

Air (51)

standard (4)

undecided (4)

petero |
3 dicembre 2012

I am getting the air because I will get my car 3 months sooner - that is the only reason! None of us have ridden or driven a regular-non air suspension "S!" If my reservation number was higher for an May + delivery I would have ordered the non-air, after all, how bad can it be?

Jennifer Lusin |
3 dicembre 2012

Air

PeterSeattle |
3 dicembre 2012

Ok, didn't expect the time to finalize e-mail tonight, so we ended up going with air as well for the sake of earlier delivery.

skystream3.7 |
3 dicembre 2012

Air (54)

standard (4)

undecided (4)

jhuang |
3 dicembre 2012

Thanks for your feedbacks, PeterSeattle!

I'm still on the fence on whether to get air or standard.. How much do you think it'd cost to repair air suspension components and what are the common problems?

My main concern with the air suspension option is maintenance cost after 8 years on the air suspension. There's also maintenance cost on standard (coil) suspension which use struts. I remember spending $1300 replacing struts on my '04 Prius with 120 mi (8 yrs). For the S,depending on the parts, I'd imagine it'll cost much more?

Also, has anyone valided on whether raising or lowering the car would actually increase range by say 5% during highway driving?

mrspaghetti |
3 dicembre 2012

@jhuang

Also, has anyone valided on whether raising or lowering the car would actually increase range by say 5% during highway driving?

According to Tesla, the car lowers automatically at highway speeds for that purpose. Don't know how much of a difference it makes though.

Brian H |
3 dicembre 2012

petero;
That's exactly what we're all waiting with bated breath to discover!